Thanks, I didn't know that. All I can say is that I'm amazed at what phone cameras can produce nowadays, especially when we're talking about what amounts to pin head sensors. And people say m4/3 sensors are small.

I lost my first E-PL5 and P25 1.4 right after leaving taxi when I was on my first trip to Sri Lanka, guess what, aside from being disappointed, I was quite comforted shooting with my cell phone. I realise that's what people do all the time, phone photography, and I just always avoided that. now I shoot with my phone sometimes, I don't expect the output to be good, but I love that being fun, plus the output is usually not bad.

Back then I still had a backup body, a GF3 and a couple of lenses which I used to produce amazing photos with, but I didn't want to shoot until I bought my second E-PL and P25 1.4 (wish there was EP5 then). It was not about what GF3 can't do, but what I didn't want to do without that nice combo. It was actually not a shame shooting with humble equipments, I used my phone a lot.

There's no doubt that some mobile phones, like the recent Nokia, can take very good photos, in almost any conditions. A mobile phone can be the perfect backup, spur of the moment, camera when nothing else is available, but what annoys me, to some extent, is that phone manufacturers put the best cameras only in the high end phones. I use a very basic mobile phone because I don't need all the smartphone features; however, it's small, allows me to tether, has the best reception and exceptional battery life (I can forget to charge it for more than a week and it still has plenty in reserve), but I would really like it if it had a better camera (I think it's just VGA quality). But no manufacturer would think to do that.

Thanks, I didn't know that. All I can say is that I'm amazed at what phone cameras can produce nowadays

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If you have an iPhone or Android phone, download the VSCOcam app. Its by the same VSCO that makes the film emulations for LR and Aperture. They have a curated feed called the VSCO grid which you can access from the app. Have a look at that, you will likely agree that the smartphone is a viable photographic tool. There are often really compelling and creative photos on there.

There's no doubt that some mobile phones, like the recent Nokia, can take very good photos, in almost any conditions. A mobile phone can be the perfect backup, spur of the moment, camera when nothing else is available, but what annoys me, to some extent, is that phone manufacturers put the best cameras only in the high end phones. I use a very basic mobile phone because I don't need all the smartphone features; however, it's small, allows me to tether, has the best reception and exceptional battery life (I can forget to charge it for more than a week and it still has plenty in reserve), but I would really like it if it had a better camera (I think it's just VGA quality). But no manufacturer would think to do that.

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We used to have choices, nowadays phones are all alike, unified like PCs except you can't change it, which is sad. Now if you want a phone that's particularly doing well in one aspect, you have to pay for all its unnecessary features. I'm younger generation and I like the cool stuffs they put in the phone even if I don't need them much, but what I can't stand is the getting-even-bigger screen sizes, I thought we have done carrying a brick in the pocket like in the 90s. And the battery drain too.

This actually reminded me of a night out in Melbourne some years ago. We had gone out with a group of friends to dinner in St Kilda (Melbourne, Victoria) and afterwards walked around because it was warm and a pretty good night. I had my E-410 with me at the time and was taking off-the-cuff photos as I saw them, like this:

At one point, we went to enter a pub and I was accosted by the security gorillas and told I couldn't take my camera inside, so we left. It didn't hit me until later that every man, woman and other genders, most likely had a mobile phone with camera and no one batted an eyelid over those; however, an actual camera, was verboten. That was a few years back when cameras in mobile phones weren't up to the latest quality, but the e-410 was hardly a light gathering machine in any case. I wonder what would happen if I tried to walk into one of these places now with an E-410?

the same happened when I was about to walk in a Carrefour store here with my camera. I wasn't happy but couldn't blame them because they were just following the protocols. Instead I took out my phone, tapped open a local shop price comparison app, scanned a barcode and showed them the "we don't even need a real camera for this" attitude, and I walked in. a big yay to myself.

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